Target Announces Pay Raise, Wage Goals For 2020
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — Target workers are getting a raise in October.
The Minneapolis-based retailer announced Monday it would raise its minimum hourly wage for team members to $11. Target also said it was aiming to increase that wage to $15 by the end of 2020.
The increase will also apply to the more than 100,000 hourly team members that Target is hiring for holiday season.
Monday's announcement is the latest salvo in the battle for workers. Walmart recently announced it would forego a hiring drive for the holidays and instead give more hours to its current workforce.
The changes come at a time when there's growing concern for the plight of the hourly worker. Thousands of workers have staged protests to call attention to their financial struggles and to fight for $15 hourly pay. Last November's election of a Republican-controlled Congress dampened hopes of an increase in the $7.25 per-hour federal minimum wage. But advocates have continued to press for hikes on the state and local level.
At the same time, competition for lower-skilled workers has heated up, and retailers, likely hobbled by the threat of e-commerce, are falling behind. As shoppers get more mobile-savvy, retailers are seeking sales staff who are more skilled at customer service and in technology such as using iPads to check out inventory. But with the unemployment rate near a 16-year low, the most desirable retail workers feel more confident in hopping from job to job.
Thirty-two percent of all first jobs in the U.S. are in retail, according to The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail group, and stores overall have more job openings now than they did a few years ago.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)